Harlow District Council: Give The Square a Future

The Square has been part of Harlow’s community for over 35 years. It’s a place where big names will play, mix records or tell jokes one night, and local schools and college groups will get on the stage the next night.

Even for those that aren’t performing it’s somewhere to come together and be creative, be part of a culture, socialise with likeminded people, and create friendships that will last a lifetime. If you go in the Ladies’ toilets right now the walls are filled with writing about what The Square has meant. Same goes for the Facebook page. A safe place that has let people be themselves is the main theme.

As for Harlow’s history, well the likes of Blur, Coldplay, Frank Turner, George Ezra, The Beat, Muse, Enter Shikari, The Blockheads, Republica, Supergrass, The Damned, Chas and Dave, Pavement, Eddie Izzard, Phill Jupitus, Gaz Coombes and Wheatus probably wouldn’t have stopped for long in Harlow without The Square. A lot of the bands that have come out of Harlow like The Subways, Collapsed Lung, Atilla the Stockbroker and Morning Parade may not have existed without that building.

This year The Square became one of the NME's top 10 small independent music venues in the UK. It also won Harlow’s Lifetime Achievement Small Business Saturday Award.

Not only will its disappearance mean a big loss to the music hopefuls and gig-goers of Harlow, but it will represent a huge dent in the community and its culture. Part of the reason that people visit the town will be gone.

It’s too late to save the run down building as the site is to be used for flats – the last day the doors will be open is 31st December 2015 – but it’s not too late to save the live music scene of Harlow. This can’t be the end.

We are The Square. We may not all be the owners but we are the people who get up on the stage and make up the audiences: the people who at some point have come to call the building their second home. It's more than bricks. We need a new home.

We want the massive gaping hole that will be left in the community to be filled with another building to provide a place where people can go to see and experience live music. There is a duty to replace this community resource. There is nothing else like The Square in Harlow.

While we understand that Harlow Council has said it will help, we want to make sure that they know what we're losing, and how big our community at The Square is. We want them to know who we are and how many of us will be affected if their help only leads to places that are unsuitable and impractical. We are not surplus to requirement. We need suitable replacement facilities to be provided within Harlow. We are petitioning Harlow Council to ensure that the impact of losing The Square is recognised, provision is made for a new building and that reparations are made.

We need a building to give music lovers and future generations a place to go. Keep music alive. Give The Square a future.

#WeAreTheSquare #Keepmusiclive

Share this petition

Petition Closed

This petition had 2,853 supporters

We were unable to post to Facebook. If you still want to share this petition, please try again.

Harlow District Council: Harlow District Council: Give The Square a Future